A pretty bland kitchen.
I love using a lot of flavor in my food. Cumin, cinnamon, oregano, basil, rosemary, cayenne, and paprika are all ingredients I swear by. If I could, I'd put cinnamon in everything.
Spices bring out so much in food and are beneficial to living a healthy life. For example, cinnamon has been shown to help with diabetes and ginger helps with stomach aches. Before the advent of modern medicine, a lot of people had gardens where they grew herbs for cooking and medicinal uses.
The difference between herbs and spices are which parts of the plant they come from. Herbs are the leaves, while spices come from the non-leaf parts. A plant can produce herbs and spices, though under different names such as coriander (spice) and cilantro (herb).
Many religions use herbs and spices in ceremonies and ritual practices. Frankincense and myrrh hold special meaning for Christians as they were two of the three gifts given to Jesus by the Three Kings. Wiccans and those who practice witchcraft use them in their rituals and ceremonies.
Picking up what you need isn't too hard. Most stores have an entire section dedicated to fresh and dried seasonings, some have oil extracts sections, and it's pretty easy to pick up a tea mix. With so much variety and availability, it can be easy to forget that a lot of these herbs and spices weren't always readily available.
The ancient trade highway, The Silk Road, was famous for it's spice trade. Connecting China with Southern Europe, The Silk Road was the only route available for hundred of years for trading in spices and luxury goods. Whoever controlled the road could gain incredible wealth. Today, along the road, there are ruins of the ancient outposts that would protect the traders from bandits and raiders on their journey.
But some weren't satisfied with the slow over land trade routes. For those who lived at one extreme end of the other of The Silk Road and other major trade routes, the demand and, by extension, the prices for exotic spices skyrocketed.
And it help fuel European exploration and imperialism was an interest in obtaining spices. Between the 15th and 17th century, Europeans sought to create and control their own spice trade routes, particularly in India and China. Competition was fierce and hostile take overs of local governments common.
Seasonings are an integral part of human history. Yet, today, herbs and spices are so easy to come by, that it feels like we don't always think about them the same way our ancestors did. Exploration, medicine, and culinary advancements can all be attributed to their existence.
I find that small details, like what kind of herbs and spices are being used, can make or break a fantasy or historical fiction media. Just because seasonings are easy to obtain now, doesn't mean that it would have been on hand 500 years ago. I think that a fantasy setting can seem more believable, yet still otherworldly, if it is established how trade is used in the world building. Often times, I am disappointed to see that these small details are left out entirely.
Incorporating the use of herbs and spices into stories shouldn't be left to the works of fantasy and historical fiction. Science Fiction has a whole spectrum of possibilities for how we might treat them in the future. Imagine what kinds of spices we might find on an alien world, or how explorers might find that they are missing herbal teas from their home world. Will replicators, like those seen in Star Trek, be able to capture the culinary qualities of seasonings as well as the medicinal? Will new trade wars happen for exotic spices from galaxies far far away?
For more information for hallucinogenic and trans-dimensional properties and trade of spice in Science Fiction please read or watch Dune.
In all seriousness, I can't write about the human relationship with food without bringing up our relationship with herbs and spices. It's amazing how much of an impact on human history these staple kitchen ingredients.
Until next week.
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